André-Jacques Neusy, MD, DTM&H, is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Training for Health Equity Network (THEnet). THEnet is a global network of socially accountable schools of health sciences and medicine that aims to produce health equity through optimizing the health workforce, contributing to quality health systems and influencing the determinants of health, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Dr. Neusy is a retired Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine where he founded and directed the Center for Global Health until 2007. He is a visiting professor in several universities around the world.

Dr. Neusy earned his medical degree at the Free Univ. of Brussels and a Doctorate in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp-Belgium. He completed his postdoctoral medical training at New York University Medical Center, joined its faculty in 1974 and became the director of the nephrology section at NYU-Bellevue Hospital Center in 1984.

Dr. Neusy frequently consults on health workforce development for academic institutions, governments and international organizations. He was a past president of the Global Health Education Consortium (GHEC), a consortium of more than 80 North American Universities that have global health programs. Dr. Neusy is an ambassador of US-based Freedom from Hunger. He serves on scientific and health committees of various organizations including the International Society for Urban Health, the American Near East Refugee Association, Capacity-Plus, and the Global Forum on Health Professional Education for the 21st Century at the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Sciences.

Ms. Kristina Graff

Kristina Graff is Director of Global Health Programs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, responsible for overseeing and expanding a broad array of domestic and international research and teaching initiatives. She previously served as the Director of Special Initiatives at the New York City Department of Health’s Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health, where she advanced new programs in teen pregnancy prevention, breastfeeding promotion, sex education and support for high-risk mothers and their infants. On the international front she worked on policy, advocacy and service delivery programs to improve women’s health in developing countries through positions at Women’s Dignity Project and EngenderHealth, and through consultancies with the United Nations Population Fund, Family Care International, and Population Action International. Kristina received her Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and she completed her bachelor’s degree at Duke University.

Dr. David Beran

David Beran is a Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Geneva within the Division of International and Humanitarian Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine.

David is a Swiss national who grew up in Geneva. He holds a BSc in Management with an Emphasis in Marketing. Following his first degree, he worked for a leading Swiss Biotech Company in both Health Policy and Government Relations and Public Relations. He then obtained his MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For his Masters’ dissertation, David worked at the WHO looking at ways of preventing Type 2 diabetes in children. David has recently completed his PhD looking at the needs of people with Type 1 diabetes in 13 countries at University College London (UCL).

Before joining the University of Geneva, David was the Project Coordinator of the International Insulin Foundation (IIF) since its establishment in November 2002 until September 2011. As of September 2011 David became Advisor to the Board of Trustees. In parallel to his role at the IIF, David was also based at the Centre for International Health and Development, Institute of Child Health, UCL, where he was a Senior Research Fellow, with both teaching and research responsibilities in the areas of health management, access to medicines, diabetes, chronic diseases and health systems in developing countries.

Mr. John Kariuki Mwangi
Coordinator of Slow Food Kenya, Member of the Steering Board of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, Kenya

OUTLINE:

PROFILES:

Dr. Claire Somerville

Dr Somerville is an independent research consultant in health, development and technology working in collaboration with international organisations and industry/business partners. Previous appointments have been as Senior Social Scientist at the Technology Research for Independent Living (TRIL) Centre at Trinity College Dublin, Research Fellow at the Cente for Primary Care and Public Health at Barts and the London, Queen Mary University London, and lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and a Master's degree in Medical Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Mrs. Pam Warhurst

Pam Warhurst is a British community leader, activist and environment worker best known for co-founding the community initiative, Incredible Edible, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Pam studied Economics at the University of Manchester. She has previously served as a member of the Board of Natural England, where she was the lead non-executive board member working on the Countryside & Rights of Way Bill. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts & Manufacturing, and chairs Pennine Prospects, a regeneration company for the South Pennines, and Incredible Edible Todmorden, a local food partnership. Pam has also been Deputy Chair and Acting Chair of the Countryside Agency, leader of Calderdale Council, a board member of Yorkshire Forward, and chair of the National Countryside Access Forum and Calderdale NHS Trust. Pam was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire award (CBE) in 2005 for services to the environment.

She is member working Group Regulation of Food & Drugs by Planning Commission for 12th 5 year plan.She was member Central Council for Health, and Chairperson of the Consumer Education Taskforce on Safety of Food & Medicine, Ministry of Health. She has been Member Health Committee National Human Rights Commission, Member, Central Social Welfare Board, Member-Advisory Committee, Gender and Communication Programme for Vigyan Prasar-Department of Science and Technology.

She was Director-Women & Health, Rational Drug Policy Head Public Policy in VHAI, Founder Coordinator All India Drug Action Network. She is steering Committee Member of Indian alliance of Child Righs & National alliance for Maternal Health & Human Rights, Right To Food Campaign, Doctors for Food & Biosafety.

She was involved in relief work following the Bhopal gas Tragedy 1984, was member of Supreme Court of India and member of the Commission that investigated the causes of a cholera outbreak trans Jamuna, part of Delhi in 1988.

Mr. John Kariuki Mwangi

John Kariuki Mwangi is the coordinator of Slow Food activities in Kenya. He was born in 1987, in Molo, Kenya. His years of professional experience includes representing the Youth and Africa at Slow Food International, administration and coordination of development projects in sustainable agriculture, education and socio-cultural sector with the aim of preserving food biodiversity, sustainable food production systems and cultural identities of local communities. He earned his under graduate degree in gastronomic sciences at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. John is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in sociology (Community Development and Project Management) at Egerton University, Kenya.

John served as a Slow Food International Vice President from 2007 to 2012. He is currently a member of Slow Food International councilor (representing East, Central and the Horn of Africa) and Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity Board of Directors. He has actively participated in development of Slow Food Youth Network and Slow Food in Kenya. John has also written several articles that have been published on the Slow Food website, books and other magazines.

He considers studying at the University of Gastronomic Sciences and being involved in Slow Food activities as transformational. It has improved his understanding of the complexity of the world and the centrality of food to all cultures and has opened his eyes to the integral role that small-scale farmers play in feeding the world.

Mr. Basile Barbey

Basile Barbey is a swiss geographer, currently working for the swiss NGO equiterre – Partenaire pour le développement durablewww.equiterre.ch since 2009.

equiterre is active in sustainable development and health promotion and Basile has worked on several projects in these two fields, such as sustainable neighbourhoods and public space accessibility.

Like many of his colleagues, Basile is now working on what we call in French “Potagers urbains” and that we can translate as urban vegetable gardens. These are spaces for people to garden ecologically close to their living place on small plots (generally from 5m2 to 30m2). equiterre believes this project is meaningful and an excellent example of sustainability principles applied to a project. Urban vegetable gardens bring indeed many benefits such as ecological gardening, social interaction and friendship building, open air physical activity, change in the eating habits and a way to save some money.

Public institutions often convey the image of being slow in responding to needs, plagued by inertia and leaving innovation to the private sector. This session will illustrate through numerous examples of projects implemented locally or abroad that innovation can be integrated in the overall strategy development of a public institution, such as a university hospital. It brings added value to the institution, strengthens its reputation, motivates its employees and retains them, it creates public value and a sense of satisfaction. Innovation can be built in at all levels of the institution and become a driving force. Partnerships with institutions abroad also play a significant role in developing and sharing new expertise, values and social responsibility.

PROFILES:

Prof. Louis Loutan

Louis is the founder of the Geneva Health Forum and has been its President since 2006. In this capacity Louis is responsible for providing strategic guidance to the initiative and ensures that it continues to enjoy wide institutional support.

Louis is Head of the Division of International and Humanitarian Medicine in the Department of Community Medicine and Primary Care and a practicing clinician at the Geneva University Hospitals in Geneva, Switzerland. He also serves the University of Geneva as Associate Professor in International and Humanitarian Medicine.

Louis is a specialist in internal medicine and tropical medicine. Louis has extensive field experience in Africa, Asia, North America and Eastern Europe. Louis is the former president of the Swiss Society of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology; President of the International Society of Travel Medicine (2001-2003). He serves on the boards of public and academic organisations that are committed to advancing the cause of global access to health.

Prof. Didier Pittet

Didier Pittet, MD, MS, is the Hospital Epidemiologist and the Director of the Infection Control Programme at the University of Geneva Hospitals and Clinics (2500 beds), Geneva, Switzerland; Professor of Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology at the University of Geneva; and Attending Physician in Adult and Paediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Geneva Hospitals. He is also Visiting Professor, Division of Investigative Sciences and School of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK. Professor Pittet serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Infection Control, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medecine, The Lancet Infectious Diseases and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. He is also an editorial consultant of the Lancet. Professor Pittet currently leads the First Global Patient Safety Challenge “Clean Care is Safer Care” of the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety. He was awarded the CBE in 2007 by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II for services to the prevention of healthcare-associated infection in the UK. Current major research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of nosocomial infections, methods for improving compliance with hand hygiene practices, and methods for improving the quality of patient care and patient safety.

Prof. Petignat and his research group have experience in running clinical trials and epidemiological studies in the field of cervical cancer and HPV. They are also involved in the development of screening policy and colposcopy practice for the Groupement Romand de la Société Suisse de Gynécologie Obstétrique (GRSSO). They have recently developed and published consensus
guideline for cervical cancer screening and management of cervical dysplasia for the Swiss French Part (available at www.GRSSGO.ch). Patrick Petignat is a co-founder of the Swiss Working Group for
Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and is member of the WHO Steering Committee on Comprehensive Cervical Cancer Control (C4-GEP).

Prof. François Chappuis

François Chappuis is physician specialized in internal and tropical medicine. He completed a master in clinical tropical medicine at Mahidol University, Bangkok and a PhD in medical sciences at the University of Antwerp. He currently heads the division of tropical and humanitarian medicine of the Geneva University Hospitals and has been medical adviser for neglected tropical diseases at Médecins sans Frontières since 1999. His clinical research activities focus on African and American trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and snake bites.

Mr. François Gilardoni

Francois Gilardoni is a venture capitalist, innovation expert and award-winning scientist educated in Switzerland and the USA with nearly two decades of international experience in the high-tech and financial industries. Building on the success of the first Innovation Day (ID) held in Geneva in 2007, in 2012 he partnered with Professor Didier, ID founder and world renowned specialist in patient safety, to foster a global culture of innovation in Medical and Healthcare Science by promoting Innovation Days around the world. In 2013, they launched the World Innovation Day (WID) and the World Innovation Academy (WIA) global initiatives. Francois holds a PhD (cum laude) in Computational Chemistry, as well as advanced degrees in Environmental Science and Computing. He is the founder of Global Advisory Services (GlobAS), a boutique firm providing non-discretionary investment advisory services to clients seeking to expand their private equity portfolio in the high-tech industry and to ventures raising capital (debt or equity).

Ms. Anne Bourgeois

Anne Bourgeois graduated as a physiotherapist in Geneva. After some time in the private sector, she joined the Geneva University Hospitals in 2002, where she worked in various departments, in acute care and rehabilitation services. She has extensive experience in numerous humanitarian projects providing care and training local staff as trainers (South of Marocco 2002, Haiti 2010 with Handicap International (HI) and MSF, Yemen with ICRC 2012-2013). She currently is involved in a training in rehabilitation project in Haiti with HI.

Prof. François Mach

Prof. François Mach has extensive experience in the field of Cardiology particularly, with respect to the development and progression of atherosclerosis diseases. After obtaining his MD at the University of Geneva, he studied Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Geneva University Hospital. Then, he moved for post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Peter Libby, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (1995-1999). After his return in 2000, he became full Professor of Cardiology and Head of Cardiology at the Geneva University Hospital. From 2012, he is President of the Swiss Society of Cardiology. François Mach is author of more than 250 publications with high Impact Factor and during his career he has already obtained more than 5 million euros as research grants, all funded by the European Community.

Prof. Mach is the director of the Cardiology Laboratory at School of Medicine of the University of Geneva that offers a number of general facilities.

His research group developed animal models of atherosclerosis, acute myocardial infarction, chronic myocardial ischemia and ischemic stroke. Several knockout mice on inflammatory genes are available in the Cardiovascular Center. In the last 10 years, the group of Prof Mach substantially contributed to better clarify the inflammatory mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis and its acute dramatic complications, such myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in both human cohort and animal studies. In addition, he contributed to the design and achievement of several clinical research, multi-center studies, as well as establishment of several cohorts of CVD patients

As a number of countries aspire to implement universal health coverage frameworks, many are looking at methods to best structure their health system to ensure citizens obtain the health services they need. Given cost constrained environments, many low and middle income countries have increasingly focused efforts on prioritization and determining value for investments in health. As such, a significant focus has turned towards the use of research evidence as a tool to support decision making. However, historically, this type of evidence has rarely been applied to support overall health system decision making. In the context of developed countries, a narrow interpretation has placed a significant emphasis on decisions related to coverage and reimbursement of healthcare technologies, such as medicines and diagnostics. 1 Healthcare technologies are only one of several inputs in the overall health system. The organization and delivery of a health care system is a complex matter, which requires a number of decisions regarding the resources necessary to ensure access to services, the mix of interventions required and the means to achieve optimal results.2 Limiting evidence based decision making to coverage decisions tends to obscure the potential role to apply to the overall health system as a whole, such as interventions that facilitate access, service delivery, and aim to improve quality of care.

Therefore, as countries embark towards universal health coverage, it is important that decisions related to coverage of health products and benefits packages are only one part of the discussion. Many low and middle income countries have extensive inefficiencies in their health systems, including issues related to service delivery, quality of care and treatment standards that transcend the need to focus specifically on coverage of health technologies to determine value for investments in health.

This session will explore the role of evidence informed decision making in achieving universal health coverage, looking specifically at the role of "macro" HTA as it is applied to overall health system efficiency and quality of care. This unique session will provide the audience with a view of different perspectives from various sectors in the healthcare space - patient, industry, academic and payer/NGO. Through live interaction, the audience will be able to participate and provide thought provoking questions/answers amongst the group to explore this innovative topic.

Former Director of the Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights and Senior Adviser in the Strategy Unit, Office of the Director-General at the World Health Organization- now is Honorary Professor, Global Health Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Professor of Practice, Public Policy and Global Health Diplomacy, McGill University; Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa; Adjunct Research Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Ottawa; and Senior Fellow, Global Health Programme, The Graduate Institute, Geneva.

Work focuses on current and emerging issues related to global health, in the areas of global health security/diplomacy/governance, foreign policy and international trade and health including intellectual property and health.

Extensive experience working with senior officials in over 100 countries and major multilateral and bilateral development agencies in health policy development, health sector analysis, strategic planning and resource mobilization and allocation decisions and in providing strategic advice on health development negotiations and in conflict resolution.

Deep experience in global health diplomacy and high-level negotiations on international health security and development issues.

Represented WHO, serves as chair, keynote speaker at major international events and conferences; lectures and teaches at Universities in Europe, North America and Asia.

Editor/author of books, papers and editorials in the area of global health; global health diplomacy; trade and health including IP; foreign policy and health. Has an M.D. from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Hautes Etudes Internationales, (the Graduate Institute) University of Geneva.

Adrian Griffin
Vice President, HTA Policy, Johnson & Johnson

Adrian Griffin is Vice President, HTA & Market Access Policy at Johnson & Johnson. He has been involved in the fields of health economics, outcomes research, and reimbursement policy within the healthcare industry for 16 years, with experience across the pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic sectors.

Mr Griffin graduated in Medicinal Chemistry from University College London, obtained a post-graduate teaching qualification from Oxford University, and spent several years teaching chemistry before joining the UK’s Medical Research Council. He then received his MSc in Health Economics at City University, London, before joining the healthcare industry. Mr Griffin has held positions at GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmacia, and most recently Johnson & Johnson, where he has been since 2003.

In addition to undertaking outcomes research from the industry perspective, Mr Griffin has also served as a ‘decision-maker’, on the NICE Technology Appraisal Committee, where he has been a committee member for 10 years. Mr Griffin is also active in numerous multi-stakeholder forums where key issues of HTA and access policy are debated and shaped, such as the HTAi Policy Forum, and initiatives that have brought regulators and HTA agencies together with companies, thus improving transparency and appreciation of different stakeholder perspectives.

Mr Griffin has contributed to several UK industry-government task-force and working groups, aimed at developing policy and processes to improve equitable access and uptake for patients to new innovations.

Within Europe, Mr Griffin has engaged through Company and Industry Association activities with EUnetHTA, with the aim of ensuring that what comes out of HTA collaboration across Europe is fit for purpose, with the ultimate aim of improving healthcare for patients.

Mr Griffin is currently on the Board of Directors of ISPOR, (the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research), and continues in his position as a member of the NICE Technology Appraisals Committee

Franz Pichler has been Director, Global Public Policy at Eli Lilly and Company since 2012. This role encompasses development of external policy positions; provision of strategic advice; and external engagement around policy-related issues. A key focus of the role relates to the European environment, in particular with regards to Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and market access. He represents Lilly on the EuropaBio HTA and Market Access Group and the EFPIA HTA Task Force Steering Committee. He participates in the EUnetHTA Stakeholder Advisory Groups related to relative effectiveness assessment and methodological guidelines development. He is co-chair of the Medicines Adaptive Pathways to Patients initiative and is a participant of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project ‘Incorporating real-life clinical data into drug development’ (GetREAL). He was a founding member of the HTAi interest sub group on HTA-Regulatory Interactions which he currently chairs. Franz joined Lilly after serving as the manager of the HTA Programme at the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science (CIRS) – a non-profit, independent medicines policy and research think tank. Prior to joining CIRS, Franz worked for over 10 years in molecular biology with specialties in functional genomics, population genetics and bioinformatics. He obtained his BSC in biology and PhD in population genetics at the University of Auckland in 1997 and 2002 respectively.

John-Arne Røttingen is Director of the Division of Infectious Disease Control at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health; Professor of Health Policy at the Department of Health Management and Health Economics, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo; Visiting Professor at the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health; and Institute Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Global Health Institute.

He is Associate Fellow at the Centre on Global Health Security, Chatham House; research associate of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research; member of the Scientific Oversight Group of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle; and member of the International Advisory Committee for the Global Burden of Disease study.

He has been Director General of the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services; Oxford Scholar at Wadham College; and Fulbright Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

He received his MD and PhD from the University of Oslo, an MSc from Oxford University and an MPA from Harvard University.

Dr. Eva Maria Ruiz de Castilla is a co-founder and since 2006 Executive Director of ESPERANTRA, a not-for-profit cancer and chronic disease patient advocacy organization in Lima, Peru. Her work at Esperantra is to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic conditions, health promotion, and to advance the recognition of the rights of patients to achieve access to timely diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. She has been instrumental in a number of national initiatives focused on cancer, including the government’s Plan Esperanza launched in 2012 to provide basic cancer care coverage for the poorest and most vulnerable Peruvians.

In addition to her work with Esperantra, Dr Ruiz de Castilla consults part-time for various Peruvian ministries, including Health, Social Development, Housing, Women, and Water-Sanitation to help design and coordinate the country’s public-sector social assistance programs. From 2011 to 2012, Dr Ruiz de Castilla was Director General of the Peruvian Ministry of Health’s (MINSA) International Coordination office and before that served as MINSA’s Director General of Health Prevention and Promotion. She has in-depth experience working with donor country agencies and multilateral organizations such as the World Bank.

As a Board Member of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) since 2010, Dr Ruiz de Castilla has been a global leader in patient-based organizational capacity building and has led various workshops on patient empowerment and networking. Her experience and involvement with building the capacity of civil society organizations focused on cancer in Peru earned her the American Cancer Society’s “Excelencia Latina 2009” Award. In 2011, Dr Ruiz de Castilla was named a Global Cancer Ambassador by the American Cancer Society, and was invited by the World Health Organization to participate as a civil society representative during the UN High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Dr Ruiz de Castilla’s academic credentials include degrees in Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Economic Development at the EHESS in Paris, France, and in Political Science at the Sorbonne University Paris 1. In Europe, she consulted for the United Nations on food and agriculture issues for the southern common market (MERCOSUR). Dr Ruiz de Castilla has authored a number of publications and papers on social development, health, and citizen engagement, and has been invited to speak at more than 200 national and international congresses.

Mr. Rick Bell
Executive Director, American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, Center for Architecture, United States

AIM:

Discuss how to better integrate the three dimensions of sustainable development and embed health into the post 2015 new development agenda.

OUTLINE:

The Millennium Declaration adopted by the heads of State at the Millennium Summit in 2000 has constituted the dominant development paradigm and organizing framework of the last decade. The Millenium Development Goals have substantially contributed to focus development co-operation efforts, strengthened the accountability requirement and mobilized support. With the Millennium Development Goals scheduled to come to an end in 2015, the international community is now taking stock of the substantial advances made as well as the unevenness and gaps in achievement. As we approach the 2015 deadline, unrelenting efforts are required to accelerate progress across all the goals but debates and global consultations about what will replace the MDGs have already taken place. In June 2012, on the occasion of the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, another mandate with similar aspirations was born: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Whilst the MDGs primarily focused on social issues such as poverty, hunger, health and education in developing countries, SDGs will seek to strike a balance between all three dimensions of sustainable development, namely the economic, environmental and the social, and will be applicable for all countries.Health as a component of social progress is a key aspect of the debates, and is being framed as a precondition for, an outcome and a possible indicator of sustainable development.The position health might take into this new framework is still subject to various narrative exercises and a lot of uncertainty still remains of what will be the next development framework by 2015.Moving away from global statements and declarations, the session will convey a diverse panel of actors involved in development, urban planning and community mobilization to discuss the enabling environment needed at a global and local level to build healthier societies and preserve our environment.Some of the questions to be discussed include:

What kind of systemic global reforms would be required to secure an accommodating international environment for sustainable development in both developed and developing countries?

How can health serve as an indicator to measure sustainable development policies progress, achievement and impact?

How can local communities, people’s movements and citizens contribute in shaping healthier and more inclusive societies/cities?

Carlos Dora, is a coordinator at the WHO HQ Public Health and Environment Department, leading work on health impacts of sector policies (energy, transport, housing and extractive industry), health impact assessment and co-benefits from green economy/climate change policies. He previously worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, at the World Bank, and with primary care systems in Brazil after practicing medicine. He serves in many science and policy committees, has an MSc and PhD from the LSHTM. His publications cover health impact of sector and sustainable development policies, HIA and health risk communication.

H.E. Ambassador Michael Gerber

Perspective: Switzerland’s position on the new Sustainable Development Framework

Member of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Mr Gerber was the Head of the SDC Analysis and Policy Section before being appointed Special Representative for Global Sustainable Development Post-2015 by the Federal Council with the rank of ambassador. In this position, he has been given the task of formulating Switzerland’s position on a Framework for Sustainable Development Post-2015 . Ambassador Gerber is also representing Switzerland in the Open Working Group on SDGs (Switzerland shares with France and Germany).

Mrs. Pam Warhurst

Perspective: How to empower ordinary people to take control of their communities through active civic engagement.

Pam Warhurst is a British community leader, activist and environment worker best known for co-founding the community initiative, Incredible Edible, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

Pam studied Economics at the University of Manchester. She has previously served as a member of the Board of Natural England, where she was the lead non-executive board member working on the Countryside & Rights of Way Bill. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts & Manufacturing, and chairs Pennine Prospects, a regeneration company for the South Pennines, and Incredible Edible Todmorden, a local food partnership. Pam has also been Deputy Chair and Acting Chair of the Countryside Agency, leader of Calderdale Council, a board member of Yorkshire Forward, and chair of the National Countryside Access Forum and Calderdale NHS Trust. Pam was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire award (CBE) in 2005 for services to the environment.

Mrs. Meenakshi Raman

Perspective: How to tackle the growing environment crises factoring international equity in the equation?

Mrs Raman is Legal Advisor and Senior Researcher at Third World Network (TWN) and is based in Geneva. She is also a Member of the Board of Friends of the Earth International and Honorary Secretary to Friends of the Earth Malaysia (Sahabat Alam). As Legal Advisor to the Consumers’ Association of Penang in Malaysia, she currently heads its Community Mobilization Section, which works with farmers and fisher folk. She has served as Chair of Friends of the Earth International (2004-2008), an international organization with 77 member groups. At Third World Network, Meenakshi currently coordinates the Climate Change Programme and has actively been involved in the intergovernmental climate negotiations, from Bali to Cancun. She has been monitoring and reporting on the negotiations and providing analysis and support both to developing country governments as well as to civil society participants. Upon graduation in 1982, Meenakshi and a colleague set up the first public interest law firm in Malaysia, which launched her legal practice assisting consumers. In the past 25 years, she has represented the organizations she works with at numerous conferences and presented papers on issues ranging from environmental and consumer protection, to climate change, agriculture and fisheries, and globalization and trade.

Mr. Rick Bell

I became an architect because of the inspirational oratory of professors including Vincent Scully and the physical example of buildings seen while attempting, at the age of 19, to hitchhike from Paris to Dakar. As an architect I've had three careers, first in the private sector, then at a public agency, and, most recently, in the not-for-profit domain. As a private architect, I mostly designed schools and libraries in a NYC-based firm that also did hotel projects worldwide. In the public sector, I served as chief architect and assistant commissioner of New York City’s public works department, responsible for 700 projects annually. And for the last twelve years I’ve led the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and created its storefront Center for Architecture.

Drawing on the personal journeys of a politician, an activist and two academic experts in the field of global health governance and diplomacy, this session will aim to illustrate how effective global health advocacy not only lies in the institutional and technical assets of GHG actors but among other things in their ability to strategically frame policy issues, in order to appeal to different audiences within specific contexts and timeframes.

OUTLINE:

Many of the most pressing global challenges facing the world today are intertwined with the complex dynamics of globalization, and require policy solutions that see national and international institutions acting in concert and the need for health communities across countries to cooperate more closely, and across a wider range of issues. The question, of how we should collectively protect and promote health in an increasingly globalized world, has opened up the policy space known as global health governance (GHG).The starting point of this session is the recognition that GHG space is inherently a political space, not limited to technical solutions based on 'best practice', cost effectiveness or evidence, but a political arena characterized by competing frames, each with its own logic, language and preferred policy pathways. This creates a complex and contested policy space where different frames (with the worldviews and interests they represent) compete.

PROFILES:

Dr. Sunoor Verma

Dr. Sunoor Verma is the Executive Director Geneva Health Forum.As a senior development expert, Sunoor Verma has worked in emergency, conflict and post-conflict situations. He has led the establishment of complex partnerships and coalitions by negotiating strategic agreements and their implementation plans. He has set up programs across sectors, including, Education, Health, Protection, Injuries, Sanitation, HIV/AIDS, Harm Reduction, Conflict Resolution, Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, Environment, Culture, Gender, Minority issues etc. He has worked in various locations, including Western Europe, South East Europe, South Asia, South East Asia, North Africa and Australia. Among others, he consulted and worked with UNHCR, UNICEF, and the European Centre for Minority Issues, Cambridge University and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. Sunoor Vema has been the principal consultant of the strategy consulting practice ‘ProCube’ and is the founder of www.csrforchildren.org.

He is a seasoned speaker on the topics of strategy, partnerships and leadership. He is also sought after for his skills as an effective moderator on high-voltage panels. In a previous avatar, Sunoor Verma was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon.

Mr. Pascal Lamy

Perspective: How to engage in dialogue with various actors who have differing interests and power positions while safeguarding public good interests?

Mr. Pascal Lamy has served two terms as Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from September 2005 to September 2013. He holds degrees from the Paris based Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) and from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He began his career in the French civil service at the Inspection Générale des finances and at the Treasury. He then became an advisor to the Finance Minister Jacques Delors, and subsequently to Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy. In Brussels from 1985 to 1994, he was Chief of Staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and his representative as Sherpa in the G7. In November 1994, he joined the team in charge of rescuing Crédit Lyonnais, and later became CEO of the bank until its privatisation in 1999. Between 1999 and 2004, he was Commissioner for Trade at the European Commission under Romano Prodi. After his tenure in Brussels, he spent a short sabbatical period as President of “Notre Europe”, a think tank working on European integration, as associate Professor at the l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and as advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the European Socialist Party). More recently, Pascal Lamy was the chair of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, a commission that brought together highly experienced leaders from government, business and society to examine the current gridlock in international and national attempts to deal with key global problems. The Commission has issued recommendations in a report entitled “Now for the Long Term” made public in October 2013.

Prof. Ronald Labonté

Perspective: How global health as a foreign policy issue is conceptualized, framed? And why is it important to study it?

Prof. Labonté is Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the Institute of Population Health, and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. His current research interests include globalization as a ‘determinant of determinants’ (he chaired the Globalization Knowledge Network for the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health); ethics, human rights and global health development; global migration of health workers; revitalization of comprehensive primary health care; global health diplomacy.

Perspective: What is global health diplomacy and why is it important to build capacity in this domain?

Ilona Kickbusch is the Director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. She advises organisations, government agencies and the private sector on policies and strategies to promote health at the national, European and international level. She has published widely and is a member of a number of advisory boards in both the academic and the health policy arena. She has received many awards and served as the Adelaide Thinker in Residence at the invitation of the Premier of South Australia. She has recently launched a think-tank initiative “Global Health Europe: A Platform for European Engagement in Global Health” and the “Consortium for Global Health Diplomacy”.

Her key areas of interest are global health governance, global health diplomacy, health in all policies, the health society and health literacy. She has had a distinguished career with the World Health Organization, at both the regional and global level, where she initiated the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and a range of “settings projects” including Healthy Cities. From 1998 – 2003 she joined Yale University as the head of the global health division, where she contributed to shaping the field of global health and headed a major Fulbright programme. She is a political scientist with a PhD from the University of Konstanz, Germany.

Dr. Mira Shiva, India

Perspective: Mobilizing local communities and raising the voices of the women.

She is member working Group Regulation of Food & Drugs by Planning Commission for 12th 5 year plan.She was member Central Council for Health, and Chairperson of the Consumer Education Taskforce on Safety of Food & Medicine, Ministry of Health. She has been Member Health Committee National Human Rights Commission, Member, Central Social Welfare Board, Member-Advisory Committee, Gender and Communication Programme for Vigyan Prasar-Department of Science and Technology.

She was Director-Women & Health, Rational Drug Policy Head Public Policy in VHAI, Founder Coordinator All India Drug Action Network. She is steering Committee Member of Indian alliance of Child Righs & National alliance for Maternal Health & Human Rights, Right To Food Campaign, Doctors for Food & Biosafety.

She was involved in relief work following the Bhopal gas Tragedy 1984, was member of Supreme Court of India and member of the Commission that investigated the causes of a cholera outbreak trans Jamuna, part of Delhi in 1988.

Mr. Bart Peterson, United States

Mr. Bart Peterson joined Eli Lilly and Company in June 2009 as senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications. He is a member of the company’s executive committee.

Peterson received a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1980 and earned his law degree at the University of Michigan in 1983.Prior to joining Lilly, Peterson was Managing Director at Strategic Capital Partners, LLC from June2008 to June 2009. During spring 2008, Peterson was a fellow with the Institute of Politics of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. During the 2008-2009 school year, Peterson was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Ball State University. He continues as a fellow with the University’s Bowen Center for Public Affairs.

From 2000 to 2007, Peterson served two terms as Mayor of Indianapolis, the nation’s 12th largest city. He also served as President of the National League of Cities in 2007. As mayor, Peterson led a transformation of public education in Indianapolis as the only mayor in America with the authority to create new schools by issuing charters. He was responsible for 16 charter schools and won Harvard University’s prestigious Innovations in American Government Award for the initiative in 2006. He was also instrumental in the business expansions of FedEx, Rolls Royce, and WellPoint in Indianapolis, and the construction and development of major projects such as Lucas Oil Stadium, the Conrad Indianapolis, Simon Property Group’s world headquarters, the new Indianapolis International Airport’s Col. H. Weir Cook terminal building, and the future Indiana Convention Center expansion and J.W. Marriott Hotel.

Along with Indiana University, Purdue University, Lilly, and the Central Indiana Corporate

Partnership, he created BioCrossroads, a focused effort to push Indianapolis to the forefront as a life sciences capital. Peterson was honored by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies with their city government leader of the year award for his efforts in cleaning up the Indianapolis waterways.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health systems as all organizations, people, and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore, or maintain health. An effective health system is a core institution, no less important than a fair justice system or democratic political system. Depending how they are designed and governed health systems can empower people thus alleviating suffering or further exclude them, deepening inequity and worsening the experience of poverty. Strong and equitable health systems contribute to the progress toward universal health coverage and sustainable development. In a context of profound demographic and epidemiological changes and highly pluralistic environments characterized by multiple public and private providers, the integration of the various activities, resources and actors that are shaping health systems remains a challenge.Drawing on the experiences three countries pursuing reforms to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and the personal journeys of actors involved in health system development, this session will aim to discuss the contextual drivers and factors that are shaping health systems transformation towards universal health coverage.

PROFILES:

Prof. Don de Savigny

Professor de Savigny is an epidemiologist and public health specialist and currently Head of the Health Systems Research Unit in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel. He has extensive experience in conducting and facilitating health research in developing countries and has lived and worked for many years in Africa. He chairs or is a member of a number of WHO, RBM, Global Fund, and TDR advisory committees and networks such as COHRED, the Health Metrics Network and the INDEPTH Network. His current research focuses on interventions to strengthen health systems in developing countries, and on the health system effects of Global Health Initiatives for scaling up access.

Prof. Recep Akdağ, Turkey

Recep Akdag was born in Erzurum, Turkey in 1960. As a pediatrician, he has been holding a professor title from the Ataturk University School of Medicine since 1999. During his career as a medical specialist and academician, he had been involved in a number of administrative tasks. Between 1994 and 1998, he worked as the Deputy Chief Medical Director, Chairman of the Procurement Commission and Deputy Editor of the Medical Bulletin in the Research Hospital of the Medical Faculty of Ataturk University. He also co-founded the Biotechnology Research Center of the University and served as the Deputy Head of the Center from 1997 to 2000. (Read more...)

Mr. Jacques Mader

Jacques Mader has several decades of multifaceted experience of the health sector in various positions. He’s always been more of a practitioner than a theoretician, more of a (critical) user than a producer of research results. Over the years and thanks to his practice in a great variety of contexts he has become increasingly pragmatic. He strives to use his expertise to promote equity in the access to health resources as well as a broader approach on the determinants of health.

Prof. Manoris Meshack

Manoris Meshack was a Team leader of a component of Tanzania Essential Health Project in Developing a community based approach for rehabilitation for Health facilities for Morogoro and Rufiji; after successful completion of the two regions was tasked to roll out the plan to the whole country. Trained District teams and village teams of the same districts and supervised the implementation which was very successful both by constructing the facilities, developing a sustainable maintenance system and reduction of costs. Thereafter Lead a multidisciplinary team for developing, training and implementation a countrywide approach on community infrastructure rehabilitation in the process rolling out of the approach, to the whole country on the same approach.

From 2001 he was founder member for initiating Tanzania network for Community Health Funds and was the first Secretary General of the Network until he retired in 2006.

He also acted as consultant in Dar es salaam Urban Health Project; he acted as facilitator in Lake Victoria Basin Development program and operated in East African contest.

Manoris Meshack has been Deputy Vice Chancellor Planning and Finance latter promoted to Vice Chancellor Academics. He was appointed to start a New University and acted for one 1year as Project leader before he was appointed to the post of Vice Chancellor until the completion of his term. From 06/2011 to date Manoris Meshack has been employed as a Team leader of Health Promotion System Strengthening project in Dodoma.

Dr. David B. Evans

David B. Evans, Director of the Department of Health Systems Financing in the Cluster on Health Systems and Services at WHO, has a PhD in economics and worked as an academic and consultant in Australia and Singapore before joining WHO in 1990. His work has covered the social and economic aspects of tropical disease control, the assessment of health system performance and the generation, analysis and use of evidence for health policy. His current responsibility is the development of effective, efficient and equitable health financing systems, through technical support to countries, generation and use of evidence, capacity strengthening and partnership with other development agencies and initiatives. He was the lead author for the World Health Report 2010 (Health Systems Financing: the Path to Universal Coverage).

Ms. Gwenaëlle de Kerret
Research Director and Semiotician, Harris Interactive,
PhD. Candidate in socio-semiotics, Adjunct teacher in La Sorbonne (Paris V) and Rouen International Business School (NEOMA), France

Dr. Sunoor Verma is the Executive Director Geneva Health Forum.As a senior development expert, Sunoor Verma has worked in emergency, conflict and post-conflict situations. He has led the establishment of complex partnerships and coalitions by negotiating strategic agreements and their implementation plans. He has set up programs across sectors, including, Education, Health, Protection, Injuries, Sanitation, HIV/AIDS, Harm Reduction, Conflict Resolution, Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, Environment, Culture, Gender, Minority issues etc. He has worked in various locations, including Western Europe, South East Europe, South Asia, South East Asia, North Africa and Australia. Among others, he consulted and worked with UNHCR, UNICEF, and the European Centre for Minority Issues, Cambridge University and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons. Sunoor Vema has been the principal consultant of the strategy consulting practice ‘ProCube’ and is the founder of www.csrforchildren.org.

He is a seasoned speaker on the topics of strategy, partnerships and leadership. He is also sought after for his skills as an effective moderator on high-voltage panels. In a previous avatar, Sunoor Verma was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon.

Mr. Rick Bell

I became an architect because of the inspirational oratory of professors including Vincent Scully and the physical example of buildings seen while attempting, at the age of 19, to hitchhike from Paris to Dakar. As an architect I've had three careers, first in the private sector, then at a public agency, and, most recently, in the not-for-profit domain. As a private architect, I mostly designed schools and libraries in a NYC-based firm that also did hotel projects worldwide. In the public sector, I served as chief architect and assistant commissioner of New York City's public works department, responsible for 700 projects annually. And for the last twelve years I've led the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and created its storefront Center for Architecture.

Ms. Gwenaëlle de Kerret

Gwenaëlle joined Harris Interactive France in 2007, where she is responsible for semiotic and ethno-semiotic research. She has been working in marketing and communication research for 8 years, on French and international topics. She specializes in projects aiming at understanding how corporations’ territory impact on public’s perceptions. These projects involve either services and cultural products, or consumer goods (packagings, products) and commercial spaces.

In parallel, she has been working for 3 years on a PhD dissertation dedicated to museums’ visual identity, in Paris and NYC. This research focuses on how museums express their identity through graphics and space (communication, architecture, signage, etc.).

Mr. Lorenzo Piemonte

An Italian national with a background in international relations, I’ve been based in Brussels for the last fifteen years, following periods of work and study in South Africa, the USA and UK. I joined the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in 2003 and have been involved in several activities and projects for the Federation since then, including advocacy, communications, event management and public relations. My current responsibilities include coordination of the World Diabetes Day awareness campaign and overseeing the online communications of IDF. I’ve been living with type 1 diabetes for over 20 years.

2010-2012 Masters in Health Economics, Policy and Management, London School of Economics, UK

Since 2013 Health Adviser of the Swiss Red Cross

Dr. Vera Coelho

I have a PhD in social sciences in the area of “State and Public Policies” and I work at CEBRAP, an independent and interdisciplinary research center located in São Paulo, Brazil. I work with both qualitative and quantitative research methods, evaluating policies and coordinating comparative research projects in the areas of health systems, citizen involvement and pension reform. During the last twenty years I had some nice opportunities to combine professional responsibilities and personal interests as, for example, in 2008 when I went to the State of Gujarat in India to research the social justice committees at the panchayat, the local governance institutions. During my stay, I attended yoga classes, it was a great experience.

Dr. Walter Flores

Dr. Flores, a national from Guatemala, is a social scientist with over 20 years of professional experience. He holds a PhD and a Masters of Community Health from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK. His professional work has been carried-out in more than 20 countries from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. His areas of expertise are: health policy analysis, health equity, right to health, democratic governance of public policies and community participation in public policies. Currently, Dr. Flores is the director of Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems), a civil society organization in Guatemala specialized in research, capacity building and advocacy around issues affecting indigenous and other marginalized populations (www.cegss.org.gt).

Prof. Labonté is Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the Institute of Population Health, and Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. His current research interests include globalization as a ‘determinant of determinants’ (he chaired the Globalization Knowledge Network for the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health); ethics, human rights and global health development; global migration of health workers; revitalization of comprehensive primary health care; global health diplomacy.

I began my career as a health professional and after working in a variety of health care settings pursued management studies and spent about a decade working for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). My work focused on health services and policy research and population and public health and in particular on how to support and promote the application of knowledge in policy and practice. Given I was working in a health research organization and was very interested in interdisciplinary knowledge and approaches to finding solutions to major health issues through research, I decided to pursue a doctorate in population health from the University of Ottawa. I focused on global health diplomacy and the integration of health into foreign policy under Professor Ronald Labonté. I am interested in policy relevant research and global health issues at the macro level such as governance and the role that actors from public, private and civil sectors play in the global health policy making process.

In addition to my academic and research interest, I continue to pursue an eclectic professional career aligned with my interests and experience in population health and knowledge translation. I am currently Vice President of a private foundation located in Alberta, Canada that Mobilizes knowledge about early childhood development and its link to lifelong health (lifecourse model), in particular addiction and mental health, by engaging with and brokering relationships across science, policy and practice.

Ms. Miriam Faid

With parents coming from two countries that could probably not be any more different in terms of their socio-economic and political liberties and development stages – Norway and Eritrea - Miriam’s personal and professional perspective has always been shaped and guided by this particular background. Having grown up in Germany where she pursued her graduate studies in Political Sciences and with stints in Portugal, Brazil, Belgium and Norway, her more recent professional journey was significantly shaped by a 6-year long stay in Geneva, where she completed a master’s and PhD degree in International Studies. With Geneva being the world’s global health hub, there was no other way but to get involved academically and professionally in this complex but fascinating governance realm. With emerging countries taking up new identities, roles and responsibilities in global health, she is particularly interested in the Global South, most specifically on South-South health cooperation initiatives. Most recently she started a Visiting Professorship at the Centre for Technological Development in Health (CDTS), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this function, she identifies and initiates opportunities for cooperation between Fiocruz/CDTS and public, private and philanthropic institutions worldwide, aiming to promote scientific and technological development and innovation with a focus on neglected diseases.

Ms. Sarah Rostom

Sarah Rostom is currently interning at the World Health Organization in the Department of Service Delivery and Safety, focusing on the Safe Childbirth Checklist Collaboration initiative. She is also working part-time as a research associate for a project commissioned by the Canadian government on essential medicines procurement. Her research experiences and interests lie at the nexus of global health, law, and policy—which she hopes to continue as a lawyer, researcher and advocate in the future. Sarah holds a Bachelors of Arts & Science (Hons) from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.